An apparatus comprises: a dispensing device for dispensing at least one polymeric material; a severing element for severing a dose of polymeric material from the polymeric material dispensed by the dispensing device; a transport element for transporting the dose; a mould comprising a male mould element and a female mould element, the female mould element being positioned above the male mould element.

The transport element is configured to perform a first movement by moving along a path directed from the dispensing device towards the mould, so as to bring the dose to the mould. Moreover, the transport element is configured to perform, in addition to the first movement, a second movement by rotating about an axis, so as to turn the dose from a first orientation with which the dose is received by the transport element, to a second orientation with which the dose is released by the transport element onto the male mould element.

A line for the continuous cycle production of plastic objects comprises: an extruder configured to deliver a flow of plastic fluid; a compression moulding machine including a rotating moulding carousel and a plurality of moulds to form an ordered succession of objects from corresponding doses; a transfer apparatus configured to feed the doses individually to the compression moulding machine; a conveyor; a first sensor configured to detect a first diagnostic signal; a control unit programmed to capture the first diagnostic signal.

A device for varyingly irradiating by means of ray shaping is described. Furthermore, a method of manufacturing a structure made of a curable material by means of molding is described. In a first step of the method, a molding tool is arranged above a surface such that the curable material abuts on the surface and a molding surface, facing the surface, of the molding tool in a region between the molding tool and the surface and such that further curable material may continue to flow to the region. In a second step, the curable material is irradiated in the region in a locally varying manner such that the ray experiences ray shaping in an optical channel and such that the curable material cures at different speeds in a laterally varying manner.

An imprinting method includes capturing an image of a resin layer formed on a region of a first substrate with resin fluid supplied onto the first substrate from a resin fluid dispenser, determining a luminance distribution in the region in the captured image, determining a thickness distribution of the resin layer based on a relationship between a thickness of a resin layer and a luminance and the determined luminance distribution, determining a resin fluid supply condition to form a resin layer in a predetermined thickness range, based on the determined thickness distribution, and supplying resin fluid from the resin fluid dispenser onto a region of a second substrate in accordance with the determined resin fluid supply condition.

Methods and devices of fabricating a stringer for a vehicle. The stringer can be constructed from two charges that are formed together into the stringer. During fabricating, the ends of the charges can be formed in a die cavity. When the ends are misaligned in the die cavity, one of the charges can be moved in the die cavity to align the ends. The device used for fabricating the charges can include a punch with separate punch plates that move the ends of the charges into the die cavity. The punch plates can be separately moved to adjust the position of the charges and align the ends.

A position detection device for adjusting positions of a mold and a substrate using a mold mark formed on the mold and a substrate mark formed on the substrate includes a detection unit configured to detect light from the mold mark and the substrate mark, and a processing unit configured to obtain a positional relationship between the substrate and the mold based on a detection result of the detection unit, wherein the processing unit obtains the positional relationship between the substrate and the mold based on a corrected signal obtained by removing a noise component based on the light from the mold mark from a detected signal based on the light from the mold mark and the substrate mark.

An imprint apparatus using a mold having a pattern region includes an irradiation unit that irradiates a substrate with irradiation light. The irradiation light has an intensity distribution over a region along a periphery of a shot area of the substrate and being capable of increasing viscosity of an imprint material or of solidifying the imprint material. The imprint apparatus also includes a control unit that sets an imprint condition for forming a pattern of the imprint material so as to reduce at least one of an extrusion of the imprint material from the shot area and an unfilling of the imprint material occurring in the shot area on the basis of results of detecting at least one of the extrusion and the unfilling of the imprint material obtained by detecting the pattern of the imprint material formed on the substrate.

The present invention provides an imprint apparatus that performs imprint processing of forming a pattern of an imprint material on a substrate using a mold, the apparatus including an image sensing unit configured to sense at least one of the mold and the substrate and obtain an image, and a determination unit configured to determine normality/abnormality of the imprint processing, wherein the imprint processing includes a first step of supplying the imprint material onto the substrate, and a second step of bringing the mold and the imprint material on the substrate into contact with each other, and the determination unit changes a reference of determination of the normality/abnormality of the imprint processing for each step of the imprint processing and determines the normality/abnormality of the imprint processing based on the image sensed by the image sensing unit.

An imprint lithography apparatus is disclosed that includes an imprint template holder arranged to hold an imprint template, and a plurality of position sensors configured to measure change of the size and/or shape of the imprint template, wherein the position sensors are mechanically isolated from the imprint template. Also disclosed is a lithography method that includes using an imprint template to imprint a pattern onto a substrate, and measuring changes of the size and/or shape of the imprint template while imprinting the pattern onto the substrate.

A performance monitor determines a performance characteristic of a plurality of dispensers receiving fluid from a reservoir. Each of the plurality of dispensers has an actuator that, when actuated, causes the each of the dispensers to generate a droplet of the fluid. A driver generates a drive command to the actuator to adjust a physical attribute of the droplet based on the performance characteristic to satisfy a performance criteria.